chrome os

Keyboards on the screen of your computer are only really helpful when you have no physical keyboard in front of you. Instead of hunting and pecking on a display, it’s (almost) always faster to type on a physical keyboard - and it wouldn’t make sense to type on a screen when your keyboard is closer. So why has Google added an onscreen keyboard for Chrome OS?

Supposing you’re aware of the Heartbleed bug - which has been patched in many locations around the web already - you know that it’s a massive deal in the internet security universe. It’s left massive portions of the web open for hacking for two whole years, and it’s only being patched by most of the web this week. As luck would have it, there’s something you can do on your end this week as well to keep safe as an average web user.

It’s time for Samsung’s push of their newest wave of Chromebooks in the devices known as "Chromebook 2." Despite the simple name, these devices are hardly small potatoes, coming in both 11.6-inch and 13.3-inch display sizes with HD and Full HD resolutions and LED technology. Both devices work with light chassis, 16GB of storage, and 4GB RAM as well.

Supposing you’ve been frustrated in the past with Google I/O and the registration process which always leaves developers wanting without a quick trigger-finger, today may make you happy. Google has just made clear their intent to implement an April 7-9th (OR April 8th-10th, there seems to be some confusion at the moment between presentations) registration period. Inside that period you may register on the Google I/O registration site once, and applicants will be randomly selected after the 9th.

With the newest generation of Chromebooks they’ve got prepped for the public, Samsung brings on their Galaxy styling to the web-based OS’s hardware. With the Samsung Chromebook 2 13.3" model, we’re seeing a 13.3-inch 1920 x 1080 LED display that’s surprisingly bright - and sharp, of course. This machine will be offered in gray and will be appearing in the public in April of 2014.

Samsung has taken the wraps off its new Chromebook 2 Series, offering two different ARM-based sizes and borrowing the stitched, textured finish of the Galaxy S5 for its lid. Both the 11.6- and 13.3-inch versions of the Chromebook 2 Series run Google's cloud-centric OS on one of Samsung's own Exynos 5 Octa processors - 1.9GHz on the smaller model; 2.1GHz on the larger - with 4GB of memory and up to 8.5hrs of battery life.

Chromebooks have their benefits and limitations, and unfortunately for many users, those limitations are of the sort involving lack of access to needed software. Taking aim at this issue, Google has teamed up with VMWare to bring Desktop as a Service (DaaS) to the Internet giant's small laptops, giving users Windows access.

Following the Chromebox for Meetings offering announced by Google earlier in the day, HP has offered some further details on its Chromebox. There has yet to be any details released in terms of the pricing, however HP has said the Chromebox will be arriving in the spring. Essentially, you are looking at a small desktop computer running Chrome OS, however Google and HP have said this will be compatible with Chromebox for Meetings.

Google has revealed Chromebox for Meetings, it's attempt to further push Chrome OS into the enterprise by offering a simpler way for multiple people to collaborate. Offered as a $999 kit including a Core i7 Chromebox - such as the ASUS Chromebox announced this month, though models from Dell and HP are also in the works - a noise-canceling microphone, 1080p autofocus HD camera, and double-sided remote with a QWERTY keyboard, Chromebox for Meetings plugs into an existing display or projector and can, Google claims, be up and running in minutes. We caught up with Google to find out more.

In October, we reviewed Acer's C720 Chromebook, a Haswell-harboring notebook with excellent battery life and performance to match. The one thing it lacked, however, was a touchscreen, something Acer has addressed with its latest Chrome OS offering: the Acer C720P Touch, a similarly-designed laptop with a touchscreen display. We've got our hands on the Chromebook to see how it holds up compared to its non-touch brethren, which we've detailed for you in our full SlashGear review.